reminiscing2004

My spotify playlists
 
wtf who put all of this bad music in here lmao

Holy crap I just saw this on reddit lol
 

 

I don't know if I agree with this, but I think it's an interesting point.
 
If I think back 10+ years ago to the forefront technical/fast players, I think of Versailles, Matenrou Opera, Deluhi. Go listen to Teru's earliest work with Aikaryu, Hizaki with Garnet grave in 1998 (let alone the Schwardix & Solo stuff), Anzi's old power metal band Masterpiece, and Leda's playing in Crimson Head. They were always shredders. Of course they improved with age, but they were always speed-geeks from the start.
 
Also, because visual kei musicians are almost always influenced by musicians in the global rock/metal world, I think its unfair to compare the 2000's with now. With the global waning of rock music from the 2000's to 2010's, a lot of this decade was defined by music with high technical merit. The icons of the early 2000's were often nu-metal bands with no guitar soloes like System of a Down, Disturbed, Slipknot and Linkin Park. Whereas in the early 2010's,  metal kids were getting excited about Animals as Leaders, Periphery, and 'djent'. Even now, a lot of the big NEW rock/metal bands of the 2010's are proggy shred bands (Polyphia, Intervals, Chon). There wasn't as much of an audience for those kind of bands in 2005. So it would make sense that visual kei in the 2010's has a higher skill level, because it reflects the global trends.

FROM DEPRESSION TO 『mode of lawsuit』

the girl from atmos*note too

I don't know if I agree with this, but I think it's an interesting point.
 
If I think back 10+ years ago to the forefront technical/fast players, I think of Versailles, Matenrou Opera, Deluhi. Go listen to Teru's earliest work with Aikaryu, Hizaki with Garnet grave in 1998 (let alone the Schwardix & Solo stuff), Anzi's old power metal band Masterpiece, and Leda's playing in Crimson Head. They were always shredders. Of course they improved with age, but they were always speed-geeks from the start.
 
Also, because visual kei musicians are almost always influenced by musicians in the global rock/metal world, I think its unfair to compare the 2000's with now. With the global waning of rock music from the 2000's to 2010's, a lot of this decade was defined by music with high technical merit. The icons of the early 2000's were often nu-metal bands with no guitar soloes like System of a Down, Disturbed, Slipknot and Linkin Park. Whereas in the early 2010's,  metal kids were getting excited about Animals as Leaders, Periphery, and 'djent'. Even now, a lot of the big NEW rock/metal bands of the 2010's are proggy shred bands (Polyphia, Intervals, Chon). There wasn't as much of an audience for those kind of bands in 2005. So it would make sense that visual kei in the 2010's has a higher skill level, because it reflects the global trends.

nokubura started as a non-vk band, dexcore are from nagoya which always had p interesting thing going on music-wise (like "a decade ago" is 2009; deadman already disbanded by 2006, and both deadman/the studs were better than fucklust and most of dexcore's output compositionally)
it probably has to do with the overall trend change; the "tired kuroyume imitation act" went away by mid-2000s, and nu-metal vk of mid-2000s in now replaced by kpop halfbreeds, neo-kawaii oshare on its 5th reincarnation, cis idol-kei and core acts.
the demand for new styles means demand for more technically skilled musicians.
shrinking scene profits and less earning venues (where are like half of mid-2000 VK fashion brands now that always needed models?) means that a lot less band members can just cute their way through the scene with minimal/mediocre skill.
people who wanted dexcore sound 10 years ago probably would have gotten it on a western band gig with like 40 attendees;
once the core-trend is done in VK, it will go the same way as panic channel/indie baroque sound of the past.
it probably just fell out of favor.

I'm sure many of you older VK fans have also noticed this, unless I'm imagining things, but I don't think I am.
 
 What I noticed is that the indie bands of the current VK era are playing at a level that they didn't about a decade ago, and I mean in terms of sheer skill. Bands of the present day are blowing bands from about 10 years ago completely out of the water by this metric. They are playing faster, heavier, and more complex riffs. Vocalists have become much more polished singers, and the ability to growl has become much more common in a vocalist's skillset, whereas 10 years ago there weren't many decent growlers in the indies scene, and most of those who were, still didn't perform at the level of guys from bands like Deviloof, Nocturnal Bloodlust, DIMLIM, DEXCORE, D.I.D, etc.
 
I'm wondering if anyone has noticed this, and what the reason may be? Has the VK scene just gotten much more competitive? Are all the average bands simply not being noticed? What's causing this massive skill increase? Another thing I've noticed is that band members don't have zillions of past bands in their resume anymore. It's as if they've reached a high level much more quickly than they used to. Back about a decade ago, the best musicians would usually work their way up to reach a high skill level, having played for years in previous bands before finally reaching a more major status, and continue to improve from there. Nowadays, it's very common for musicians with little to no known band history to play at the level of those with years of history behind them.
 
So I'm just curious to know what you all think, but I'm sorry if this has been brought up before. I have no doubt that this has been on people's minds, especially jaded fans who have been involved for a decade or longer, and have noticed several shifts in the scene within the current era. Lastly, I don't think the skill increase is a bad thing, although I did enjoy the slower, simpler sound that bands used to have. It wasn't as impressive, but the tunes were fun. I don't think bands with my favorite type of sound will ever emerge again, but it doesn't bother me. I still have those bands, and they still exist as a part of history, with music that can still be obtained. Everyone has different taste and I'm happy w/ the scene.
 
Here's a random song I just dug up to show off my taste, just for the fun of it. 
 

I think there are two main reasons:
 
1. Techniques for smaller studios/home recordings are much more advanced now, so even no budget bands can finally afford making more polished releases. 10+ years ago a decent recording/mixing session would cost a lot of money while pretty much now anyone can fix songs with melodyne, preamp guitars and the like. Especially with indies band you can really feel the quality gap between recorded songs and live performances. A lot of dudes are not even playing their instruments/singing live anymore as they are aware of that.
 
2. Socially speaking the musicians are completely different people nowadays. Otaku-ish dudes who liked music and grew up listening to bands are more common in the scene now, while in the past it was really just a bunch of ex-chimpiras, yakuzas, bikers, hosts, etc. who did not fit into society and were in bands just because there was little else they could do to get chicks (of course there are exceptions). They had the ideas and the fierceness, but mostly no music knowledge whatsoever and especially no will to practice or overthink about their music. Now most guys went to school, have money to learn playing their instruments and afford decent equipment, and especially they all mostly compose on their laptops so there is again a bit gap in what their minds can compose and what their hands can play on an instrument. So the result is mostly polished and well performed songs but  kind of lacks the raw energy and "heart" older bands had instead. There is no right and wrong about it,  it really depends on what you are looking for in music.

I'm Catholic. God is the only reason why I live. The rest is the rest.

I think this idea was floated at some point back when I was staff... but just stay with me for a second.
 
I propose a change up to how trade offs are delivered and executed. Instead of the private one on one affair that they have been up to this point, we take the same setup and premise of the event and make it more of thing everybody on the forum can enjoy even people who do not want to actually participate in the event itself. Basically I think we should make a subforum in the DL section just for mix tapes and require participants in the tradeoff to post their mixes for the public to check out as well as their trade off partners. We would basically have a thread for each tradeoff and that thread would be solely to index the mixes for each event and where people can offer their thoughts on particular mix they checked out.
 
I'm thinking something along these lines;
 
Run the sign up thread just like normal in the general sub forum where it's always been When all participants have been matched with a respective partner open a hidden thread in the new subforum (new rule; when the participant sends their mix off to their partner also have them send a copy to the trade-off organizer) This way the organizer can start compiling  a master post in the thread with each mix. once all mixes have been sent and received and compiled in hidden thread, unlock the thread and release into the world Partners will still review their respective mixes in the same sign up thread in general subforum as always while everyone else can do their own reviews/feed back in the DL thread (or we can have it all in one place, but this might need some brainstorming considering some people are really quick and might be done before the last person receives their mix...)  
This format will ideally accomplish several things;
 
Increase buzz and awareness for the trade-off events themselves Give the forum a dedicated place to post mixtapes with DL links freely Encourage and foster the creation and sharing of mixtapes and new music with people lead to new and exciting evolution of the trade-off event we have come to love so much. lead to other music sharing/reviewing events on the forum (possibly user organized events instead of staff)  
I don't think the way we are running the trade-off currently makes much sense anymore, sure at one point it did, but we've been doing these for how long now? We need to innovate it a little IMO and make it interesting for the usual suspects as well new prospects. This will do nothing but good and promote the sharing of good music and the art of mixtape creation.
 
@CAT5 @Zeus @Shir0 @Seimeisen @platy @paradoxal @YuyoDrift @Ito Hit me up, I'm down to flesh this out some more and really make something awesome and worthwhile out of this.
 
Peace I'm out.

Love it. I don't have any new ideas to add, I think it's a great idea as you presented it! 

In a way this is a great idea @Original Saku. I voted for you testing these waters however muahahaha.
 
In the past I've wanted to listen to some of the mixtapes created by others, under themes I'd be interested in (even though I was not participating in the Trade-Off itself). Rather than go out and request a copy for myself to listen to (I am too embarrassed, busy at the time, or I receive no reply), I can simply go into this section of the Trade-Off and download the mixtape since it's free to listen to and Ok'ed to be shared by the creator.
 
The only simpler way to share the tapes would be to just add a spoiler tag under the list of partners, and then populate it with all the links (titled most likely) once the organizer receives them. It does create extra work for the organizer however, and so I'm not too sure if its gonna be more of a hassle than it already is. Having said that though, I think the extra effort is worth it if it means allowing potentially new Trade-Off participants to sign up on the next one since they can sample a mixtape.
 
Not sure how we can organize the user's feedback outside the Trade-Off Thread however.
I guess a separate thread would be OK, and then link it somewhere in the Trade-Off's OP.
 

been sick for the past 8 or 9 days fuck this lmao 

Shibuya ZEAL LINK will close on June 30...  
 
 

I'm not sure if anyone's really influenced my hair, but I've noticed it's kinda similar to Masashi from Versailles'.
 
My makeup sometimes changes, but not drastically. I just like studying VK makeup and finding things I like by accident... and even then, my makeup's not really that VK, anyways. Rip.
  
Oh, well. At least I always make sure to put that obligatory pale stripe down the bridge of my nose.
 
As for my clothes, I want to be a tanbi kei goth-loli. I have a big wish list on Lolitashow, but my bank account says "no" at the moment.
 
Right now, I'd say I'm closer to otome kei than anything. My hair's kinda VK, but everything else just screams "otome". Not that I mind. If I play otoge, I may as well look otokei.

Also, I know you can't see it in that picture, but there's a massive black bow on the back of my head, just as there always is. Just the way I like it.

https://thehardtimes.net/harddrive/study-finds-80-nes-characters-believe-earth-flat-moves-right/
This is just so great. 😂

south america never gives up

re: aggy's bass tracks being replaced
 
 
🤔

MEJIBRAY aren't the best, but there's plenty of bands that are much much worse.

MIYAVI is releasing his latest album NO SLEEP TILL TOKYO on 7/24.  Jackets for both versions of the album were illustrated by Sui Ishida, the manga artist  behind  the Tokyo Ghoul series. Buying the version from the Universal Music webshop nets you a t-shirt.
 
https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2019/06/13-1/tokyo-ghoul-manga-author-draws-jacket-illustrations-for-japanese-guitarist-miyavis-new-album
https://www.universal-music.co.jp/miyavi/news/2019-06-13/
 
He's touring North America after the album release too.
 
7/25（木）Vancouver | Vogue
7/26（金）Seattle | Neptune’s
7/27（土）Portland | Crystal Ballroom
7/29（月）San Francisco | Slim’s
7/30（火）Santa Ana | Observatory
8/3（土）Tucson | El Rialto Theatre
8/5（月）Dallas | Trees
8/6（火）Houston | Scout Bar
8/7（水）Austin | Come and Take It Live
8/9（金）Mexico City | Sala Puebla
8/11（日）San Antonio | Vibes Event Center
8/13（火）Chicago | House of Blues
8/15（木）Detroit | El Club
8/16（金）Toronto | Queen Elizabeth Theatre
8/17（土）Montreal | Otakuthon Festival
8/19（月）New York | Sony Music Hall
8/24（土）Atlanta | The Masquerade
 
https://www.universal-music.co.jp/miyavi/news/2019-05-29-2/

For Vk, these two, always:
 
 
 

SCREW - 樹海ニ咲ク愛 (Jukai ni Saki Ku Ai)
 
the Gazette - Calm Envy
 
Daizystripper - 春めく僕ら (Harumeku Bokura)
 
Kagrra, - 彩の讃歌 (Irodori no Sanka) [I love all their ballad songs, but I think this is one of my favorites]
I was just thinking of those, haha  Beautiful ballads~
 
EDIT: Also, just thought of these, lol
 
Vidoll - Doll's bar"V.I.D"
 
Alice Nine - 瑠璃の雨 (Ruri no Ame)
 

Lion tribe